PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF PRIDNESTROVIE YEVGENY SHEVCHUK ON RESULTS OF YEAR (PART I)

12/24/15

Yevgeny Shevchuk, President of Pridnestrovie: I would like to welcome you all here today in the Presidential Administration, to congratulate, first of all, on the holiday. We have today a national holiday – the Constitution of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. I congratulate all the citizens of Pridnestrovie, all the friends of Pridnestrovie who supported us and support in the difficult moments.

I would like to thank the journalists for the fact that we have the opportunity now to meet and to highlight the issues that are of interest primarily of the journalistic community and are demanded by the Pridnestrovian society.

I note that today is the Constitution Day and it just so happens that almost four years ago on December 25, 2011 there was the second round of presidential elections in Pridnestrovie. In principle, this is a certain level for the President in office. It is a certain result for me, a certain stage.

Of course, it should be noted that it is New Year's Eve. So there is something to talk about. You have the opportunity to ask questions in relation not only to the period of 2015, but the entire four-year period from the time of execution of the functional responsibilities of the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.

I would like to briefly mention that the 2015 had some features faced by the republic. They were, of course, various. First of all, this is the change in the situation in cooperation with Ukraine - with our strategic partner, the influence of processes in Ukraine on Pridnestrovie, on economic entities. These are economic problems. These are some threats, additional security risks. I remind that in the spring of 2015 we faced with the fact that in the Ukrainian media we heard very often theses that Pridnestrovie allegedly was preparing to attack Ukraine: whether the Odessa Oblast, or the Mykolaiv one. And these statements were periodically made even by top officials of the Ukrainian state. Of course, the beginning of 2015 formed new tasks for Pridnestrovie on the basis of the existed risks. Therefore, the 2015 was influenced by two factors – the foreign economy factor and change in the political attitude towards Pridnestrovie, primarily by Ukraine.

Our second neighbour, the Republic of Moldova, in 2015, unfortunately, in our opinion, did not reach the high level of political stability. This largely determined the fact that today we have a difficult situation in the negotiation process. We see this through the prism of the fact that certain political developments in Moldova itself show the instability of the political leadership. And it causes certain difficulties and affects the negotiation process.

Therefore, the 2015 was for Pridnestrovie in the new, more challenging environments, with new risks, challenges. In general, the republic coped with those challenges, the socio-economic stability has been maintained on the whole. Despite the criticism, different shouts, the election campaign, unbridled stove-pipping at times, I want to note that we finish the year paying virtually all pension and arrears to pensioners of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, and, I stress, without devaluation of the country’s currency. A number of products, primarily food, became cheaper and more accessible to a wide circle of our people. In 2015, we maintained low tariffs for housing and communal services for all categories of our citizens. And it showed that at the moment the level of incomes of the population Pridnestrovie is no less than in Ukraine or Moldova, and it is superior to these two states according to the basic parameters of social and economic stability today. A very important result in 2015 is when in the difficult conditions we managed to maintain social stability by the efforts primarily of the public authorities, the efforts of Pridnestrovie. Furthermore, we managed in parallel - and this is no secret - to increase the combat readiness of the Pridnestrovian army, to finish equipping within our capabilities the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Internal Affairs, to create conditions for increasing the effectiveness of these ministries in the implementation of tasks. The first task - defense of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, the second - maintaining a high level of public order and security within Pridnestrovie. I believe that these are important results of 2015.

I note that in 2015 the global, in my opinion, projects on reconstruction of very important for us institutions of the health and education sector. Unprecedented investments have been channelled for four years in these sectors. 150 schools and kindergartens were involved in different levels of repair in Pridnestrovie. And during this time we have virtually eliminated the shortage of places in kindergartens in Tiraspol. I remind you that in 2012 it amounted to 1 612 places. Such rates were made possible, first of all, by the Russian support, the support of different funds. In terms of investment, certainly, the first place belongs to the projects of the ANO “Eurasian Integration”, the Russian aid, then – the Pridnestrovian humanitarian fund, budget funds, then - various the UNDP grants, European grants. Even though they are not significant, but they also were sent to health and education. All of this is the contribution to the present and to the future. We already have some positive developments, which today can be assessed in concrete figures on the results of investments. The Ministry of Health informs that due to the new equipment, new medical facilities, for example, the lives of 96 newborn were saved. The mortality of patients with certain categories of pulmonary diseases has decreased nearly by 20 percent.

For example, even in such sector as road safety, as compared to the year 2011, today there are people dead less than by 23, that is nearly by 50 percent. Investments in those safety features have also saved lives. I think this is a very significant result of the efforts of the Pridnestrovian state as a whole.

I will not detail the other elements. I know and I'm sure you have questions in various fields. Thank you!